Robber Flies inject their prey with a deadly combo of enzymes that paralyzes and liquifies their victim from within. They have FIVE eyes, the better to see their prey . They hunt other flies, moths, spiders and dragonflies.

Have you heard of the Wolf Spider?

from Wolfspiders.org

“The Greek name for wolf is Lycos, and wolf spiders (Lycosidae spp.) are named as such because they were previously thought to hunt in groups, in contrast to spiders catching their prey in webs. Wolf spiders are also characterized by good vision, females carrying their egg sacs with them (most do), and eight eyes.

Wolf spiders are diurnal and have fairly large and robust front legs.

They use their strong cheliceraes to crush prey, and they can inflict sharp stinging bites on humans. They are very fast and can reach a speed of two feet per second over short distances.”

Tomato Hornworm

These large catepillars will morph into a Five Spotted Moth. They have an insatiable appetite and will chomp up tomato and tobacco plants until there is little left.

In the summer of 2010 there was a major insurgence of bed bugs in major U.S.Cities like New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Not only did they infest some well-known hotel chains, they were also infiltrating movie theaters, office and department stores.

History shows that bed bugs, like some of our other pests with more than two legs, have been around since as far back as 77 A.D. There are various poisons that have been used against these peskiest of pests, but many of them have now been banned because of the severe side effects they have on humans.

Bed bugs do bite, but so far we have not found any evidence that bed bugs transmit diseases, or cause any illnesses in people. Disease or not, I don’t know of anyone who would relish the experience of bugs crawling on and biting them while they are trying to sleep..

Since the resurgence of bed bugs in 2010 the bug research community has been once again studying these pests. While I can’t report anything of great significance, I was amused to see a report of CNN about what colors are pleasing to bed bugs. They even said, if you carry luggage which is red or black, you would be less likely to have bed bugs as an unwanted guest in your luggage.

“Researchers placed bedbugs in Petri dishes that contained little bug-sized tents made of different colored paper. The bugs quickly crawled to the shelter, just as you would expect for insects that spend 90% of their lives hiding in cracks and crevices. But when given the chance, they gravitated toward the tents that were black and red instead of the white, yellow or green shelters.

“We joked that we are all going to buy bright yellow luggage bags because the bedbugs seem not to prefer them, or not to prefer laying eggs on them,” said Roberto Pereira, an urban entomology research scientist at the University of Florida. Pereira was part of the team that carried out the research, which was published Monday in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

One of the most common ways to get bedbugs is when you stay at a hotel that has an infestation, and the insects or a few of their eggs hitch a ride home with you on your bag, Pereira said. Sunny-colored suitcases could help prevent that, although bedbugs might still be able to find dark folds in the fabric in which to stow away, he added.

Before you invest in a new set of luggage, there are probably better ways to keep bedbugs out of your home, said Dawn Gouge, an associate professor of urban entomology at the University of Arizona, who was not involved in the new research.

Gouge uses suitcases with hard exteriors and encourages “absolutely everyone to never bring luggage into their bedroom or onto a couch in the first place, and if they have an outdoor storage area (like a garage) where they can pack and unpack, that’s the way to go.”

Although Gouge checks her hotel rooms for signs of bedbugs — one is reddish stains on sheets — she noted that fewer than 1% of hotels and motels probably have them, and an infestation is sometimes hard to spot.”